Christopher Boss and Johannes Messer spoke with the renowned automotive industry expert and speaker of the event Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer about speed and costs in the automotive and aluminum foundry industry in the context of the EUROGUSS Executive Circle on July 1st and 2nd.
Christopher Boss/Johannes Messer
Costs and speed are the most frequently cited reasons for the lack of competitiveness of European companies in comparison with China. Is it really only the high labor costs, energy costs and taxes in Europe that make the difference compared to China?
Ferdinand Dudenhöffer
Of course, labor and energy costs and taxes are parameters that define our competitiveness, but that doesn't explain the big difference. Look, in China around 50% of new cars are sold as NEVs, i.e. fully electric, plug-in or range extender vehicles, whereas in Europe the figure is less than 20%. In China, the car market has 23 million new cars, here in Europe it's 13 million. So the volume is in China and whoever has the volume has the scale and therefore a very good cost position.
Secondly, it is the CHINA SPEED that characterizes competitiveness. Development departments in China need 50% of the time for the new product compared to Germany. And that saves considerable costs.
So scale and speed are the key to success.
Christopher Boss/Johannes Messer
GIGA casting is a good example of CHINA speed. The idea for GIGA-Casting came from Tesla in the USA. The first GIGA casting machines and GIGA molds were built in Europe. Today, however, 70% of the GIGA casting machines installed worldwide are in China. Do we in Europe lack entrepreneurial risk or the necessary financial resources?
Ferdinand Dudenhöffer
The machines are located where the volume is. And that is in China. They want the electric car there, we are thinking about it. The battery-electric car and GIGA casting are two sides of the same coin. That's one side. Secondly, the Chinese are “hungry”, i.e. there is a lot of competition and everyone knows that not everyone will be there tomorrow. So you have to pick up on developments very quickly and “buy” risk.
That is part of the explanation for CHINA SPEED.
